Showing posts with label grieving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grieving. Show all posts

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Book Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  The Sky is Everywhere 
Author:  Jandy Nelson
Publisher:  Walker Books Ltd.
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
Pages:  368 pages
ISBN - 10:  1406326305
ISBN - 13:  978-1406326307
Source:  Purchased, Life is Like a Bookpage Book Shop

Summary

From Goodreads: 
"Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding."
Review

The sky is everywhere 
but to her, it was gone. 
Her sister left her and went up the skies,
and with her went the world.
The Sky was poignant,
engaging,
thoughtful,
depressing at times,
inspiring,
horrifying,
and most of all,
heart-wrenching.
The Sky was about a dead sister,
the dead sister's boyfriend,
a bright, bright young man,
a missing mother,
crazy uncle,
crazier grandmother - 
but mostly The Sky was about a girl
who lost the sky
and found it again,
finding love after her sister's death.
The Sky made me laugh,
made me sad,
made me mad,
made me feel other things
- it almost made me cry.
I tried to reach for the sky,
but it was too high up out there for me.
But I found The Sky
reached it with both hands,
and kept it ever since.
I will cherish The Sky
and read it over and over
even though that girl becomes younger 
than my own daughter,
and I go crazier 
than the crazy grandmother.
The Sky reminded me of my father
who now lives in the skies.
I look up and see him looking down at me
smiling as I fumble over stuff
his ever-clumsy little girl.
The Sky made me jealous
because the girl cried and mourned,
felt empty at the loss of her sister.
While I could not even produce a single tear
over my dead father.
People do have different ways
to mourn for a person
who has left them and gone to the sky.
The sky is everywhere -
and I am proud to claim
that The Sky is mine.


(That's the best effort I could attempt at writing a poem.  Sorry if it sounds really bad, but I really did love The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and I really think you guys should read it too.)

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.